PCB and six franchise owners agree to stage entire PSL5 in Pakistan

[MenInG]

LAHORE: All owners of the six franchises of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) have agreed with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s plans to hold the fifth edition of the competition in 2020 in the country.

But the biggest hurdle remains the availability of foreign players,who have to be convinced to stay in Pakistan for the entire duration of the league.

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani held an informal meeting with the owners at a local hotel here on Monday and discussed the pros and cons of holding all matches in Pakistan.

The owners, it is learnt, have expressed reservations as how to convince the foreigner cricketers and make stay in Pakistan. However, it was agreed that both the PCB and the owners would move jointly to convince maximum numbers of overseas cricketers to come and play in the league.

It may be mentioned that in the last edition PCB successfully staged eight matches in Karachi in which a good number of foreign cricketers and the staff of the broadcaster stayed in the city. That experience would help a lot in convincing the foreigner players to make themselves available for the fifth edition.

Meanwhile, another massive task for the PCB to hold the PSL matches in Pakistan is the challenge of upgrading the stadia in Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan.

At present only Gaddafi Stadiumin Lahore and National Stadium in Karachi are in position to host the matches under international atmosphere.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1498307/pcb-team-owners-agree-to-stage-entire-psl-in-pakistan

 

[Hawkeye]

If all the players agree to come, and if the stadiums are upgraded in time, sounds great!

Both aren't easy though.

 

[MenInG]

The fifth season of the Pakistan Super League is set to be played entirely in the country after the franchise owners agreed to such a plan of the cricket board.

Javed Afridi, who owns the Peshawar Zalmi franchise, said the owners of the six teams have agreed during a meeting on Monday that the PSL five should be held entirely in Pakistan — in Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

The owners of all the six franchises had a meeting with Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani and Managing Director Wasim Khan during the PSL Governing Council in Lahore on Monday.

“Yes, all the franchises have shown their willingness to back the PCB on having the entire PSL in Pakistan because it would also mean franchises being able to earn more and losses being reduced,” Afridi said.

The PSL-5 is likely to be played in February-March next year. He said franchises lost money because more than half of the matches of the first four editions of the PSL were held in the UAE.

“Last edition earnings from one match in Karachi was around 170 million rupees and if the entire PSL is held in Pakistan, there is no doubt it will improve revenues of the PCB and for franchises,” Afridi said on the GSports show on GNews channel.

He said some compromises could be made if not all the foreign players agreed to come and play the entire PSL in Pakistan. He said the meeting also discussed appointing independent analysts and having security briefings to convince all the overseas players that they can play the entire PSL in Pakistan without any concerns.

PCB has held eight matches of the PSL in Lahore and Karachi, including the 2017 final, and with a few exceptions, most of the foreign players came to Pakistan for the matches.

The six franchises also asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to allow them to pay their local players in Pakistani currency instead of US dollars in order to reduce their expenses and losses.

“The franchise owners made a suggestion at the meeting that since the US dollar rate compared to the Pakistani currency had gone up drastically they should be allowed to pay their local players in local currency instead of dollars,” a source told PTI.

He said some of the owners noted that the US dollar had now gone up to around 160 rupees from around 142 when the previous PSL edition was held earlier this year.

According to the source, some owners noted that the present financial model of the PSL was not practical for the franchises who were suffering 50 percent losses.

https://indianexpress.com/article/s...d-to-play-psl-5-entirely-in-pakistan-5881670/

 

[Deewana Mastana]

If all the players agree to come, and if the stadiums are upgraded in time, sounds great!

Both aren't easy though.

The bolded part won't happen as we all saw what happened to the Karachi stadium last year with the works still happening while the PSL was going on.

PCB with all the time in the world, nearly 10 years without good international cricket and none of the grounds have been upgraded to international level.

 

[AdamM97]

Heard that Peshawar is going to host 1 PSL match next year. Good news for Peshawaris!

 

[AdamM97]

Heard that Peshawar is going to host 1 PSL match next year. Good news for Peshawaris!

Or maybe not.

 

[Rana]

Peshawar may not be a great choice for a 1st match back in Pakistan

 

[AdamM97]

Peshawar may not be a great choice for a 1st match back in Pakistan

Someone on Twitter said they would hold one in Peshawar. But they're not going to hold one in Peshawar, i just checked.

PCB should wait 1-2 years before they host matches in Peshawar, there's still security issues.

 

[Hawkeye]

The bolded part won't happen as we all saw what happened to the Karachi stadium last year with the works still happening while the PSL was going on.

PCB with all the time in the world, nearly 10 years without good international cricket and none of the grounds have been upgraded to international level.

You're right.

That was just one stadium and height of incompetence. If matches do come here, they'll be played in horrendous conditions.

Grounds are embarrassing.

 

[tahir_dj]

Peshawar may not be a great choice for a 1st match back in Pakistan

Peshawar stadium is going through renovation
The stands are completely demolished
So there is no way of holding the match there any way for at least 2 years

 

[tahir_dj]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Under Construction Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium Peshawar Upgradation Project. Construction being done at very slow pace. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Peshawar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Peshawar</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a> &#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816; <a href="https://t.co/2uaQO6WnOh">pic.twitter.com/2uaQO6WnOh</a></p>— Developing Pakistan (@DevelopmentPk) <a href="https://twitter.com/DevelopmentPk/status/1154089304039350274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Peshawar stadium renovation

 

[moghul]

Or maybe not.

How that would not be a good news for Peshawaris, please enlighten me , thanks ?

 

[Mueez]

Great news.

InshaAllah cricket will return to Pakistan.

 

[Zeeraq]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great news re <a href="https://twitter.com/thePSLt20?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thePSLt20</a> moving fully to Pakistan. Was gutted I could not attend the final last season but will be attending this year for sure.</p>— Niall John O Brien (@niallnobiobrien) <a href="https://twitter.com/niallnobiobrien/status/1158646671712165888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[AdamM97]

How that would not be a good news for Peshawaris, please enlighten me , thanks ?

I meant that there won’t be a game in Peshawar. I was wrong about that.

 

[Pakhs]

Good decision - Just keep playing at home until teams and players start visiting. I would go further and not play at all in UAE even international matches.

 

[Zeeraq]

PSL 5 opening ceremony to be held in Karachi

The opening ceremony of Pakistan Super League (PSL) season five will be held in Karachi on February 20, 2020 while the final will be played at Lahore on March 22.

According to the reports, Lahore will host 11 matches including the final this season whereas nine matches will be played in Karachi.

The Pakistan cricket board (PCB) is also considering Multan and Rawalpindi as venues for the 34 games with the UAE serving as an alternate option.

On Monday, the owners of all six franchises had a meeting with Chairman PCB Ehsan Mani and Managing Director Wasim Khan during the PSL Governing Council, where all agreed to play the entire league in Pakistan.

The board has been gradually moving to bring back cricket in Pakistan. In the last edition, PCB successfully hosted a number of PSL games in Lahore and Karachi featuring prominent Pakistani and foreign cricketers.

The country’s only cricket league will kick-off on Feb 20 and conclude on March 22. The players’ draft will take place in November this year.

https://arysports.tv/psl-5-opening-ceremony-held-karachi/

 

[MenInG]

Huge undertaking and if done right, will be a huge feather in the cap of the current admin.

 

[Savak]

The PCB needs to take a stand now. After seeing how the people of Karachi reacted to the PSL, bring in even average foreign players and it will still be a big hit with eye balls.

Time to get the message across to the foreign players that they need the psl. If we can kick out the likes of Gayle, Mccullam from the draft why not act tough on foreign players refusing to tour Pakistan

 

[Markhor]

Only good thing this circus league is good for is facilitating the return of cricket to Pakistan.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Good - the Pakistan fans deserve it.

 

[MenInG]

Wasim Khan speaking to the media :


We will have the PSL at 4 venues in Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi. The venues will be ready, and we'll be ready to take on the challenge.

We will have an update about the PSL Executive in the next few days.

Our relationship with the PSL franchise owners is a positive one, we don't agree on everything but that's part and parcel of it. We're pretty much there in terms of the fees, we're still waiting for 1-2 outstanding payments to reveal the revenue shares for the PSL owners but we're nearly there. The process is something we need to learn from, we need to be better and quicker. This year hasn't been acceptable, we've been too slow to provide details around revenue shares etc., they are big investors in the game in Pakistan and we're thankful and respect them. Both sides need to be better.